Thursday, September 29, 2016

A Game from Liz McCall of the Vintage Toyshop Mysteries

guest: Liz McCallfrom: The Vintage Toyshop Mysteriesby: Barbara Early

Liz McCall here. I self-identify as a board game junkie. We have quite a selection of vintage board games at the shop. But today I have a new game for you! It's kind of a cross between a logic puzzle and the board game Clue. And the suspect are eight authors from the Killer Character blog!

UPDATE: THE WINNERS HAVE BEEN CHOSEN, BUT YOU CAN PLAY JUST FOR FUN, IF YOU'D LIKE. WHEN YOU'RE DONE SUBMITTING YOUR ANSWERS, THE FORM WILL LET YOU KNOW HOW YOU DID.

Here's how it works:

I'll post one set of clues now, and then again at 10AM (eastern), 12noon, 2PM, 4PM, and 6PM. (Come back or reload the page to see new clues!)

In addition, every player can make ONE free guess (suspect, weapon, and location) in the comments below at any time in the game. Leave an email in a safe format (ie. MyName AT myhost DOT com), and I'll email back the name of one of your items that's wrong, if any. You only get one guess, so use it wisely!

The weapons are:

flax hackle

lawn dart

soldering iron

Snickers bar

antique book

halberd

ghost chili

athame

The possible locations are:

yarn shop

vintage toyshop

glass shop

bike shop

bed & breakfast

Wagtail Mountain

spice shop

farm store

When you think you've figured it out--or have eliminated enough possibilities that you'd like to "take a stab" at it--you can make your final accusation at this Google form. If for some freak techno reason you cannot access the form, you may email me at Barb AT BarbaraEarly DOT com, using the heading "final accusation" and be sure to tell me the suspect, weapon, and location. DO NOT post your final accusations in the comments.

The first person to make a correct accusation will win a vintage toyshop totebag, a signed, hardcover copy of Death of a Toy Soldier, and signed copies of Cheryl Hollon's Pane and Suffering, Leslie Budewitz's Killing Thyme, and Krista Davis's The Diva Serves High Tea. (Cat not included.)

Five runners up will be chosen randomly from correct responses, and will each receive a Scrabble tile necklace.

The prizes as shown are limited to the United States. INTERNATIONAL PLAYERS may enter, but if they win, the prize will be DEATH OF A TOY SOLDIER only. (You don't want to know how much it costs to mail prizes across the globe!)

The killer's name doesn't contain a K.
The victim wasn't poisoned.
None of the authors killed anyone in a location around which her series is set.
Cheryl Hollon didn't kill anyone with a lawn dart.
Peg Cochran didn't kill anyone in a yarn shop.
Neither Barbara Early nor Leslie Budewitz killed anybody with a sharp object.

Clue set 2:

Molly MacRae didn't kill anyone with an antique book or in a bike shop.
Nobody died in a farm store.
Barbara Early didn't kill anyone with an antique book or in a yarn shop.
Nobody died on Wagtail Mountain.

Clue set 3:

Leslie Budewitz didn't kill anyone with a soldering iron or in a glass shop.
The only weapons that could be used in the B & B are the book and the lawn dart.
Neither Molly MacRae nor Duffy Brown killed anyone with a flax hackle.
If Peg Cochran killed anyone, it was in the farm store.

Clue set 4:

Cheryl Hollon didn’t kill anyone with an athame or in a spice shop.
If someone was killed in the glass shop, it was with the flax hackle
If the killer used a soldering iron, it was in the yarn shop.
If the killer used a halbard, it was in the spice shop.

Clue set 5:

Duffy Brown didn't kill anyone with a soldering iron or in the yarn shop.
If an antique book was used, it was in the spice shop.
The murder didn't take place in a vintage toyshop.
If the killer used a lawn dart, it was in the bike shop.

Final clue set:

Cheryl Hollon didn't kill anyone with a soldering iron.
If the killer used an athame, it was in a yarn shop.
Neither Molly MacRae nor Leslie Budewitz used a halbard.
Neither Duffy Brown nor Cheryl Hollon killed anyone with an antique book.

Remember, you make make ONE free guess in the comments below (include your email) at any time in the day, you may make one accusation here, and be sure to check back for more cozy clues!

Death of a Toy Soldier, the first of the new Vintage Toyshop Mysteries, releases on October 11th from Crooked Lane.

I will post the correct answer and the winners--as soon as every one who wants to has had a chance to play. Besides the grand prize, there are prizes for runners up chosen randomly from correct responses, so I want to give everyone a chance to get their answers in. I'm glad you liked the game!

OK, we have a winner! Kathleen Costa was the first to get the correct answer. I'll be emailing runners up individually. If you'd like to check your answers, please go back to the form where you submitted your final answers. It will now provide the correct answers at the end. This way I can leave it up for anyone who'd like to play--just for the brain tease. And if you enjoyed this, look for my online launch party where we will play more games. https://www.facebook.com/events/289250294788326/

Ok. Since the game was over and I had two locations for one suspect and only one for the other, I submitted the one with only one possible weapon and location, but I don't see how I could eliminate the other person and her two locations.

I'm late joining in and notice someone has already got it, but that's ok. I don't see where the correct answer is posted, so I went ahead and just submitted what I came up with. Thank you so much for the little brain workout! SO much fun! My mom was always doing logic puzzles when I was young, so I am going to send this to her. I think she'll get a kick out of it as she also loves cozies! Thanks again!

Ha! Now I see the correct answer after submitting my guess! I was wrong, wrong, wrong. Maybe I read more into one clue then I should've as I eliminated that weapon option from that particular author. Oh well. Fun nevertheless!

Yes, instead of posting the answer here, I reset the form so that it supplies the correct answer at the end. That way, people could continue to enjoy solving the puzzle. I'm so glad you all enjoyed it!

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We are the characters--major and minor--who inhabit the pages of some of your favorite cozy mysteries.We're coming out from between the covers and welcoming you into our lives.So grab a nice cuppa, settle in, and learn what happens when our authors aren't looking.